US-China trade talks open in Paris, paving the way for Trump-Xi summit
[March 16, 2026]
BEIJING (AP) — Representatives from Beijing and Washington began their
economic and trade talks in Paris on Sunday, paving the way for U.S.
President Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing to meet Chinese leader
Xi Jinping in about two weeks.
The delegations, led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and
Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, convened in the French capital in the
morning, China's official news agency Xinhua reported. The White House
has said that Trump will travel to China from March 31 to April 2,
though Beijing has not officially confirmed it.
Bessent said on Thursday that his team will continue to deliver results
that put America's farmers, workers and businesses first. The U.S.
Treasury Department said Bessent will meet He on Sunday and Monday.
China’s commerce ministry said Friday the two sides are set to discuss
“trade and economic issues of mutual concern.”
Trump’s visit to China will be the first for a U.S. president since he
went in his first term in 2017. It will come five months after the two
leaders met in the South Korean city of Busan and agreed to a one-year
truce in a trade war that temporarily saw tit-for-tat tariffs soar to
triple digits before the two sides climbed down.
Still, trade remains a source of tensions. The commerce ministry hit
back against the Trump administration’s new trade investigation into 16
trading partners, which included China. The investigation — which came
after a Supreme Court ruling struck down Trump’s sweeping global tariffs
that were imposed last year — could pave the way for new tariffs.
The U.S. also launched a separate investigation into the import of goods
made with forced labor from countries including China.
China said Monday that it had already made representations over concerns
about the new investigation to the U.S. “It's a mistake on top of a
mistake, that severely harms the global supply chain's safety and
stability," according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce.
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U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, left, shakes hands
with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, right, during a bilateral
meeting between the United States and China, in Geneva, Switzerland,
on Saturday, May 10, 2025. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, File)
 Another issue that could be
discussed is the Iran war, especially when global anxiety is soaring
over oil prices and supplies. Trump said Saturday that he hopes
China, France, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and others
will send warships to keep the Strait of Hormuz “open and safe.”
Before Sunday's talks, Gary Ng, a senior economist at French bank
Natixis and a research fellow at the Central European Institute of
Asian Studies, said the Paris meeting is likely the most important
bilateral one before the Xi-Trump summit.
The key issue is "whether China and the U.S. can agree on what is
agreed and manage disagreement. Iran is a new factor, but Beijing is
more concerned about the flip-flopping of U.S. policies,” he said.
Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said it would be a “big
year” for China-U.S. relations. While he did not confirm the state
visit, Wang said that “the agenda of high-level exchange is already
on the table.”
Bessent and He have led trade negotiations between the countries
since last year, having met in Geneva, London, Stockholm, Madrid and
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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